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After committing to meet with the Penguins tonight, Texas Stars AHL coach Willie Desjardins has emerged as the Penguins top choice, Inside Pittsburgh Sports has learned.

Desjardins will have his first face to face meeting with Penguins officials tonight in Pittsburgh as the team is closing in on a new coach.

The Penguins officially requested permission to talk to Desjardins on Wednesday morning but Desjardins did not commit to interview with the Penguins until Thursday morning. Late Wednesday night Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was prepared to move on with the search without Desjardins, who sources say has had some concerns with the job.

The Penguins will attempt to resolve those concerns, among them believed to be contract term and assistant coaches.

As the Penguins have closed in on Desjardins, however, the two sides have yet to enter into contract negotiations, an NHL source said. It is expected those talks will take place on Friday morning. Some close to the situation wonder if Pittsburgh’s preference of a short-term deal, could lead to a snag but guess here is they end up going three guaranteed years.

Meanwhile, Detroit Assistant coach Bill Peters who interviewed in person on Tuesday with the Penguins, was hired by the Carolina Hurricanes this afternoon.

Notable candidates who interviewed for the Penguins job include Ron Wilson, Ulf Samuelsson, Tom Renney, Marc Crawford, and John Hynes.

Trade Buzz: Thursday’s 1-for-1 trade of young underperforming players saw the Minnesota Wild acquire center Victor Rask from the Carolina Hurricanes for left winger Nino Niederreiter. Carolina did an excellent job of being able to get out of the Rask contract, who has three years remaining with a $4 million cap hit. Rask has 1 goal, 5 assists on the season, mirrored in a 22-game goal drought. The logic here for Minnesota is taking the chance on a playmaking center who can help fill a top-9 spot longer term if the Wild move on from Eric Staal. Minnesota is also playing the card that a change of scenery will benefit the 24-year old who posted a career-high 21 goals, 48 points in 2015-2016.

Niederreiter’s trade value was stunted because of his contract, where he has three years left on his deal with a $5.25 million cap hit. Niederreiter is a player who is extremely hard to play against, drives possession well, and has three 20 goal seasons over his last four full seasons. Injuries (18 goals in 63 games) kept him from a 4th straight 20-goal season in 17-18. The Niederreiter acquisition also sets up as great insurance for the Hurricanes if they can’t resign Micheal Ferland. In the short-term, Carolina’s center situation is a mess with Jordan Staal sidelined with a concussion, but they’re getting the better player who fits the identity they’re trying to establish upfront, especially on the wings where they’ve identified the need for Patric Hornqvist type players.